UPCOMING EVENTS

Tesla’s IPO has been one a few super-successful cleantech public offerings this year, if not the most successful. But will the good news continue after the 180-day post-IPO lockup period expires Monday and new shares flood the market?

Maybe not. There’s tremendous short interest in the electric car company’s stock — that means there’s a lot of buyers looking to bet that shares will fall. On Nov. 30, the ratio of short interest to available shares that day was 6 to 1, and at the end of October that ratio reached 22 to 1, ahead of Tesla’s most recent earnings report. It fell to 4.5 to 1 after the earnings came out, but current short interest in advance of the lockout’s end signals belief that the shares will fall after the lockout ends. In essence, the market is now anticipating a drop in the stock price. We also spoke to some venture capitalists who, in an office pool, were betting on TSLA’s stock price come Monday — the highest bet was only $18.

Venture capitalists invested in Tesla upfront have incentive to sell their shares because it lets them lock into profits, but at the moment, they’ve got a huge portion of the holdings, so new shares hitting the market are relatively high compared to the number of shares already on the market. In fact, Morgan Stanley projects that shares available for public trading will triple on Monday.

Traditionally, the increased supply after a lockup period means the price comes down. Simply economics of supply and demand, right? But Tesla’s stock doesn’t always obey the rules. Despite posting losses in the third quarter — granted, smaller than expected losses — the stock closed at a record $33. And its blockbuster IPO — a $17 June offering that jumped 40.5 percent in the first day of trading — happened in the midst of a lackluster cleantech IPO season. And in a practically unheard-of aberration, the IPO bucked market trends with a successful debut the same day the Nasdaq and S&P had their worst days of the year.

“It’s definitely trading on sentiment,” says Eric Jackson, founder of hedge fund Ironfire Capital. He predicts the stock will trade down to the mid-20s in coming weeks.

“Cars are sexy. It’s almost just about that. They got enough public attention early enough on. They had physical product that was kind of cool,” Goldhaber told me recently, referring to Tesla’s Roadster sports car. “[Cars are] the thing that captures the American imagination. It’s valued disproportionately to its actual utility.”

Ironfire’s Jackson has been vocal in the past about his short position on Tesla — but this week, he told me he’s now long on the stock. He still stands by his concerns about the company’s management, in particular, CEO Elon Musk and Elon’s brother and Tesla board member Kimbal Musk — but Jackson thinks the company’s plans for the Model S have real potential.

“What they’re doing is just in a great little niche that is going to be popular and extremely attractive to a lot of people when and if they do get the Model S out on time,” Jackson said.

A Morgan Stanley report last month said that the Model S (pictured, right) would be exhibited at the Detroit Auto Show in January. Tesla told the reports’ authors that it eventually plans to sell 100,000 vehicles per year on the Model S platform and ramp up to 500,000 in its new Fremont factory. CEO Elon Musk also noted plans for a cheaper “Model X” car that could sell 400,000 a year. “Those volumes are well in excess of what we have modeled in our bull case,” the report said.

“That’s a big question. I think it’ll be difficult to hit,” Jackson said. “It goes back to one of my fears about the company. They’re definitely overconfident. And that parlays down from Elon,” who Jackson has called narcissitic and argues has a track record of generating positive interest in his companies, then failing to deliver on promised dates.

“I am worried about whether or not they’re going to back that [Model S claim] up,” Jackson said. But not worried enough to change his position on the stock … yet.

How will Tesla’s stock fare Monday and in coming weeks? Will it make good on its Model S promises and prove naysayers wrong? Stay tuned.